Improved self-balancinq centrifugal machine



D. M. WESTON. SELF BALANCING OENTRIFUGAL MACHINE. No 82,049.

Patented Sept. 8, 1868.

" NITED 'rn'rns QFFIGE.

EMPROVED SELF-BALANCINQ CENTRIFUGAL MACHINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 8%,049, dated September 8, 1868.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID M. WESTON, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Self-Balancing Centrifugal Machines; and'I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full,

clear, and exact description of the construc tion and operation of the same, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the'accompanying drawings, making part of this specication, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view of my invention, with the frame-work or floor on which it rests. Fig. 2 is a plan of the under surface of the floor or platform, showing also sections of the pulley to which the power is applied, and the bushing-spring and box at I the bearing Of the perpendicular shaft.

the floor-timbers h h h h, on which thefioori rests.

The subject-matter of this invention consists in avoiding the injurious .efi'ects caused by the irregular or unequal distribution of material to-be acted upon within the revolving cylinders of centrifugal machines described in the schedule annexed to the reissue of my former patent, dated January 14, A. D. 1868, No. 2,845 5 but by the use of a different method, to wit, in so mounting the machine as to cause it to revolve upon a flexible pivot-bearin g at the base of the.perpendicular shaft, instead of suspending it upon a flexible hearin g or connection at the top of an upright shaft, thus reversing the former method.

Centrifugal machines have been made to revolve upon an upright shaft, with a pivotbea-ring at the bottom; but a difficulty to be overcome has been found, from their tendency to stagger or surge in starting with a charge of sugar 'or other semi-liquid material, which results in a heavy lurch, so great as to stbp ible upper bearings have been applied to the shaft, near and below the cylinder, with a pulley attachedbetween this and the lower hearing, as in theFesher machine imported from Berlin. These machines cannot be charged beforestart'ing, and it has been found necessary to charge the cylinder with-the material to be acted upon at speed.

An improvement on this machine hasbeen patented in the United States, enabling the operator to charge the machine while stationary, which improvement consists in the appli cation of an adjustable fixed bearing, applied above the cylinder, which is removed after starting and attaining a certain degree of speed. This requircs-the attention of a skillful operator to detach this adjustable bearing at the top at the proper moment. In all centrifugal machines? revolving upon fixed bearings great weight and strength of machinery are required to obtain a proper degree ofstability, and revolving, as they do, at high speed, a very objectionable jar and concussion are produced. The same difliculty arises in a proportionate degree by the attempt to control the machine by the upper flexible bearingsbelow the cylinder above described.

In my invention I dispense with the fixed bearings at the top and the partially-flexible upper spring bearing below the cylinder. Power being applied by means of a drivingbeltattaehed to the pulley 0 below the platform or floor, the machine commences to revolve without any support or control to keep it in position other than the spring e, which is made so flexible as to have just sufficient strength to preserve the vertical position of the machine while stationary, but not so rigid as to exercise control over its revolutions 1n motion.

The tendency of the machine to oscillate from the center or stagger when starting is overcome without difficulty by making the upright shaft of a length not less than one and one-fourth time the diameter of the cylinder,

the revolution of the machine. Partially-flex-' shaft nearly perpemliouler,

and the useof the spring'e at the base, of the flexible character above described.

It is essential that the length of the upright shaft slioi lcl be such as to permit the natural oscillation of the machine in starting within an angle sufiieiently obtuse to keep-the cylinder very nearly on a horizontal plane and the Thenetuml bendency. of the. machine under these conditions is to find an axis of revolution in perfect age-i- The pulley c, which surrounds the spring 0, in orderto prevent the driving-power of the bell, from (lishurbing the, perpendieuier peeition of the machine, and also the spring, are parts of my former invention, before referred to, and no claim is made for these devieee in this application.

What I now elaim, and desire to secure o Letters lzetent, is

1. The e-pplioation of the easy-yielding spring a, as the sole support of a cenmihgel' I machine revolving neon an upright shaft-resting upon a pivot-bearing at the base, and in 5 combination with the shaft and pivot-bearing, substantially" as above described.

2. The flexible spring e, in combination with the upright shaft 2:, made of sufiieient-length D. M. W ESTON. 'Witnees .Aoeosaree Ross,

J. M, HAWARD. 

